Foldable reclining chair



March 26, 1940. A. LoRENi ET AL.

FOLDABLE RECLINING CHAIR Filed April 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Shut 1 //7/ e/7for: v

M 22 W N a EH 6 RM n 0 n L w m m March 26, 1940.

A. LORENZ El AL FOLDABLE RECLINING CHAIR Filed April 18, 1,938

2 Sheets-Sheet; 2

v 7/ ions.- flnton. LORENZ '1 H s LUCK/ HUT l I,

Patented Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED .isTAT;Es

H me CHAIR Anton Lorenz and Hans Luckhardt, Berlin,

I Germany ApplicaticnApril s, 1938, SerialNo. 202,599

InGermany April'2'9, 1 937 5 Claims. (01.155-110) Our invention relatesto a reclining phair, and more particularly to a foldable reclining chii, in which a leg-rest, a seat, a back-rest and connecting link-meansare pivotally. interconnected with each other to form ,a polygonalstructure withunequal sides andwherein said polygonal structure ismovably connected to said support.

One object of our invention is ;to provide a foldable reclining chair ofthe above described. type, inwhich the members of the polygonalstructure may be folded upon each other iintwo parallel planes. I

Another object of our invention is. to provide a 'foldable recliningchair of ,theabove described type, in which the members of the polygonalstructure may befoldedupon each other in two parallel planes, and inwhich, the members of a foldablesupport are positioned in one of saidplanes, when the chair isfolded.

A furtherob'ject of our invention is to provide such a foldablereclining chair withanovel looking device for locking the movable partsof the polygonal-structure in anydesired position, so that the user ofthe chair may gradually shift the movable parts of the polygonalstructure from any adjusted position into any other more reclinedposition by gradually loosening said looking device and pressing backagainst said back-rest, while he rests-on the chair.

In order to carry outour invention into practice, we provide a foldablerecliningch'air, comprising a support, and'a polygonal structure, the

members of said polygonal structurelbeing'formed of a leg-rest, a seat,a back-rest and connecting link-means, said seat extendingbetween pointsof saidleg-rest and back-rest and being pivoted thereto, said connectinglink-means extending between different points. of said leg-rest andback-rest and being pivoted thereto, sai'd polygonal structure havingsidesof unequallength and being movably connected to said support, andat least one pivot point between adjacentmembers of said polygonalstructure being movablearranged along one of said members. inaproferrecl embodiment of our .invention-theconnecting link-means formthearm-rests on each side of the chair and are provided withslo;ts';'one point of the polygonal struotureisv pivoted to the support;pins are secured to the support on each side of the chair and are inmovable engagement with said slots for controlling the movement of themembers of thepolygonal structure, when the latter, is swungaboutitspivot point onjthe support; the pivot points between the back rest andthe arm-rests are. also .slidablmarranged in said slots; andclampingmeans are adjustably arranged onat least one of said pins andcooperate with an inclined surface'of the arm-rest for agradualadjustment of the members of the polygonal structure to more reclinedpositions.

The above mentioned objects and advantages as well as'other objects andadvantages of our inventicns will appear from the following descriptionof the preferred embodiment thereof shown on the accompanying drawings,in .Which'f' L Fig.1 is a side elevational viewfof the foldablereclining'chair .in sittinglposition, 'i 'Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof the foldable reclining chair shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of an arm-rest of thechair,illustrating thelockin-g device in an enlarged scale,

'Figsy ia-ec are side elevational views of the chair illustratingsubsequent positions of theparts of the chair, when the folding of thechair is started from asitting position, and I Figs. ,5ar-5c are sideelevational views of the chair illustrating subsequent positions of theparts of the chair, when the folding of the chair isstarted from areclining position.

Referring now to Figs. .1 and 2', the support of the chair consists oftwo pairs of uprights l and 2, one pair being arranged on eachside ofthe chair. ,The upright 2 is hinged to the uprights Iat 3. Links 343 and3! hingednto the uprights l and 2 respectively at 32 and133 andpivotally connected with each other at 34 p'revent the uprights i and 2from spreadingjif they are in the'supporting position shown in Figs. 1and 2. A plate 35 of curved shape is secured to the upper end of eachupright i and carries a pin orpivot 36 for a purpose to bedescribediater on; r

, N indicates the leg rest, which is provided With 'a'st'r'ip M offabric or the like attached thereto. 7 indicates the seat having aplurality of .strips iii of fabric or the like secured thereto.

{ t indicates the back-rest; whichis provided with 1 l a plurality ofstri'psS'l ,of fabric or the lil ze' attached' thereto. 8 indicates"connectingylinks,

which form the arm-rests of the chair in the embodiment shownjir'i thedrawings. One armrest is arranged on each side of thechair, and

end of the seatis hinged to the back-restj at 6,

and the front end-of each arm-rest 8 is hinged [to theupperendof thelegerest H at The 'backerest 4 provided with pivots IElfon feach side ofthe chair. Said pivots are positioned' at intermediate points of theback-rest and are in slidable engagement with said slots 9 of thearm-rests, so that the distance between the pivots l2 and I9 may bechanged, if desired. The leg-rest H, the seat I, the back-rest 4 and thearm-rests 8 form a polygonal structure having sides of unequal length,the shortest side being the upper part of the leg-rest H between thepivots l2 and 38. The back-rest 4 has an extension 39 on each side ofthe chair, and said extension is pivoted to the upright! at 5, so thatthe polygonal structure may be rotated about said pivot 5, if it isdesired to bring the movable parts thereof from the sitting positionshown in full lines in Fig. 1 into a reclining position shown in dashand dotted lines in Fig. 1. The movements of the members of thepolygonal structure during said adjustment are controlled by the pins36, which are in slidable engagement with the guiding slots 9 of thearm-rests 8.

In order to lock the movable parts of the polygonal structure in anyadjusted position, the pins 36 have a threaded end extending outwardlyfrom the arm-rest, and a clamping knob 10 or the like'is screwed on thisend for pressing a clamping'diso 40 loosely arranged on said pin 35against the surface of the arm-rest. If the disc 40 is pressed againstthe arm-rest, the polygonal structure is locked.

As best/shown in Fig. 3, the side of the armrest 8 facing the clampingdisc 48 has an inc-lined surface l6, which permits a gradualchange'from' the sitting position or an intermediate reclining positioninto a more reclined position'of the polygonal structure while the userof the chair rests thereon. Assume, the parts of the chair are locked inan intermediate reclining position, when the clamping disc is tightlypressed against the recess 15 in the position shown in Fig. 3. Now, ifthe user of the chair wishes a gradual change from said position into amore reclined positionuntil he reaches acornfortable reclining position,he gradually loosens the clamping knob Hi and presses his back againstthe back-rest 4, whereby the arm-rest 8 is gradually shifted inthedirection of the arrow A, until the user stops the loosening of the knobl .after having reached the desired re- "clining position and theinclined surface 16 cooperating with the clamping means I0, 48 preventsa further movement of the arm-rest 8, so that the polygonal structure islocked in the ,adjusted intermediate reclining position.

The shoulder l1 formed by the inclined surface 16 limits the sittingposition of the polygonal structure, when the clamping disc at abutsagainst said shoulder. The extreme rec-lining position of the polygonalstructure is limited by an engagement of the pin 36 with the front end4| of the slot 9.

Transverse bars 20, I5, 50 and [8 are secured to the side bars of theleg-rest II, seat 15 and back-rest 4 respectively, and connect the twopolygons on each side of the chair with each.

the chair is in sitting position.

tween the pivots I? and 38 and the pivots 38 and 6 of one pair ofadjacent members of the polygonal structure is equal to the sum of thedistances between the pivots 6 and. I9 and the pivots l9 and I2 of theother pair of adjacent members of the polygonal structure as indicatedby Fig. 4b. Then, the leg-rest II, the seat 7, the back-rest 4 and thearm-rests 8 may be folded in two parallel planes as shown in 40. In thisconnection it may be noted, that the pivots 5, l2 and 36 are offset. Ifthe chair is folded, the upright I is in the same plane as theleg-rest Hand the seat 1, and the upright 2 may be swung about its pivot 3 so thatit comes into the same plane as the upright l and the entire width a ofthe folded chair is equal to the sum of the width b and c of two membersof the chair only.

Figs. 5a-5c illustrate the folding of the chair, when its parts are in areclined position. In

this case, the bars 20 and I8 are used as handles,

and the back-rest is swung about the pivot 5 intosuch a position, thatthe distance between the'pivots 38 and 6 of one member of the polygonalstructure is equal to the sum of the distances between the pivots ofthree adjacentmembers of the polygonal structure, 1. e. the distancesbetween the pivots 38 and I2, between the pivots l2 and l9;and betweenthe pivots l9 and 6 as indicated by Fig. 5b. Said Fig. 5b alsoshows,that during this type of folding the pin36 slides forwardlyin the slot9. If the chair is folded as shown in Fig. 5c, the parts of the chairare in two planes as is true of the folded chair shown in Fig. 4c,withthe only exception that V the leg-rest ll projects upwardly. Ifdesired, this type of folding may also be employed, when We havedescribed a preferred embodiment of our inventionybut it is clear thatnumerous changes and omissions may be made without departing from thespirit of our invention.

What we claim is:

,1. A foldable reclining chair, comprising: a pair of uprights on eachside of the chair, the uprights of each pair being pivotally connectedwith each other; a pivot secured to the upper end of one of saiduprights on each side of the chairf two polygons one at each side. ofthe chair; and means connecting said polygons with each other, themembers of said polygons forming the upper part of aleg-rest, a seat,the lower part of a back-rest and a pair of arm-rests, one arm-restbeing arranged on each side of the "chair, said seat'extending betweenintermediate points of the leg-rest and lower points of the back restandbeing' pivoted thereto, said armrests extending between upper pointsof said legrest and intermediate points of said back-rest and beingpivoted thereto; pivot means connected to at least one member of eachpolygon for hinging to one of said uprights on each side of the chair,each arm-rest being provided with 'a slot, said'pivots on the upper endsof the uprights beingin movable engagementwith said slots, and thepivots between said back-rest and said arm-restsbeingin'slidable-engagement with said slots.

2. A foldable recliningchair as claimed inclaim 1, in which at 'leastone of the two armrests is provided with an inclined surface, and

[clamping means forcooperating with said in- .olined surface, said.clamping means being arranged on thepivot engaged with'the slot of saidarm-ife$t.i.

' 3'; A foldable' reclining chair as claimed in claim 1-, on each sideof the chair two diagonally opposite pivots .of the polygon and thepivot secured to the'upright' andengaged with said slot of the arm-:restbeing offset, and said slot being v of a length to permit the movementof the pivot of the backrestin said slot to such a point, that the suinof the distances between the pivots of length to permit the movement ofthe pivot of the back-rest in said slot to such a point, that the sum ofthefldistances between the'pivots of three adjacentmembers of thepolygon is equal to the distance between thepivots of the fourth memberof the polygon.

5. A -foldable reclining pair of uprights on each side of the chair, the

uprights of each pairfbeing pivotally connected with each other, twopolygons one at each side chair, comprising a inglinks, one connectinglink being arranged on each side, of the chair, said seatextendingbetweeninter'mediate points of the leg-rest and lower points of theback-rest and being pivotedthereto, said connecting links extendingbetween upper points of said leg-rest and intermediate the chair, meansconnecting said polygons with each other; the members of said polygonsforming the upper part of a leg-rest, a seat, the lowerpart of aback-rest anda pairof connectpoints o-f-said back-rest and being pivotedthereto, each polygon having sides of unequal length,

the shortest side being formed by the portion of 7 the leg-restextending'between the seat and the.

connecting link, pivot means connected to at least one member of eachpolygon for hinging to oneoffsaid uprights on each side of the chair, lh v one of the pivotal connections of each polygon 7 being adjustablefor varying the length between twozpoints of the polygon during thefolding of the, chair, and a pin and slot connection arranged betweenone member of each polygon H and an upright. s v

. ANTON LORENZ, HANS LUCKHARDT,

